Mine car



A. BRAMLEY 2,150,818

MINE CAR Filed Sept. 24, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l 17606765071' #QW/UE .E/MLEY,

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March 14, 1939.

March 14, 1939. AA BRAMLEY MINE CAR Filed Sept. 24, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Hmm) Patented Mar. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of load-carrying cars, such as. mine cars and the like, and the underbodies therefor.

An ob-ject of this invention is to provide a y, sturdy, simply constructed underbody for loadcarrying cars of the class described.

Another object is to construct an all-metal load-carrying car having a minimum number of parts, and one which is rugged and possessed of m relatively long life.

The above and other objects will be apparent by referring to the following description and the drawings, in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of a mine car which 15 illustrates one embodiment of my invention.;

Figure 2 is a plan of the mine car, shown in Figure l, with the car body removed; and

Figure 3 is an enlarged endyview of the mine car, shown in Figure 1.

20 Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral I designates generally an underbody for a load-carrying car. The underbody I is principally composed of a relatively long rectangular metal sheet or plate 2 which has its longig, tudinal edges bent upwardly, and preferably perpendicular thereto, to form opposed flanges 4 and 6.

Bumper or coupling boxes are secured to the ends of the underbody I and on the under side i thereof. Preferably, these boxes include opposed plates 8 which are rectangular in shape and secured to the bottom of the plate 2 by any convenient means, such as welding. The plates B are provided with opposed vertically extending :1.1i grooves I and I2 adjacent the ends of the plate 2 and extending the height thereof. To complete the bumper or coupling boxes rectangular plates I3 are secured to the bottoms of the opposed plates 8.

.m To attach bumpers in the bumper boxes, I provide transversely positioned rectangular plates I4, whose ends are in the grooves I0 and I2, received for limited longitudinal movement. The plates I4 have bosses IB on one side thereof which exr: tend into springs I8 which hold the rectangular plates I4 apart. A U-shaped bumper member 20 is mounted for sliding movement between` the sides of the bumper boxes and slidably surrounds the springs I8 and rectangular plates I4 so that,

.-1111 upon movement of the bumper member 28 away from the car body, the closed end of the bumper member 2D engages the plate I4 and compresses the spring I8. Transverse blocks 2! are secured on the U-arms of the bumper members 2B ad- 55 jacent the outermost rectangular plate I4, where- (Cl. 10S- 364) by movement of the bumper members toward the car compresses the springs I8 against the innermost plates I4. The width of the grooves I and I2 is so col-related to the strength of the springs I8 that the desired cushioning action is thereby obtained.

In order to longitudinally strengthen the plate 2 and to assist in distributing stresses from one bumper member 20 to the other, I provide a strengthening channel 22 which preferably is Welded to the bottom of the .plate 2 and extends between the bumper boxes mounted on 'the' underbody I. Bridging plates 23 may be welded over the butt-joints between the channel 22 and the inner ends of the oppo-sed plates 8 to further strengthen` the underbody I, all as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings.

A wheel assembly, preferably comprising a pair of axles 24 each mounting two wheels 25, is secured to the bottom of the underb'ody I. To accomplish this result, means, such as' housings 26 of inverted U-shape in cross-section, are suitably secured to the bottom of the plate 2, as shown by trapezoidal base-plates or housing bases 2l. The open bottoms of the housings 26 preferably are closed by plates 28. The housing bases 2l are positioned along the longitudinal sides of the plate 2, as seen in Figure 2 of the drawings, so that two of the housing bases 2'I are in lateral alignment with one another and adjacent one end of the plate 2, and the two other housing bases 2'I are positioned in lateral alignment adjacent the other end of the plate 2. The housings 25 preferably are so positioned that they divide the length of the plate 2 into approximate thirds.

In order to close the ends of the plate 2 and provide means for enlarging the containing capacity of the underbody I, end-plates 29 and 30 are secured to the ends of the underbody I. These end-plates, as best shown in Figure 3, are so shaped that they extend laterally beyond and upwardly from the flanges 4 and 6 of the underbody I. To complete the upper part of the car and provide adequate load-carrying capacity therein, means, such as angle plates 3 I, are preferably secured to the end-plates 29 and 30.

To provide braking means for the wheels 25, semi-circular brake-bands 38 are positioned thereover. One end of each brake-band 38 is pivotally mounted on a laterally extending rod 39 secured to the underbody I by any suitable means. The other, or adjacent, ends of the brake-bands 3B are pivotally secured to and connected by bars 40 which are connected to brakerods 42 by links 44.* 'I'he brake-rods 42 preferably are rotatably secured to theV under sides Yof the angle-plates 3| and are provided with two integral arms extending perpendicularly a Vshort distance therefrom. The links 44'are connected These brake-rods extend out a short distanceV from the end-plate 30 and the ends' of the brakerods 42 are bent over at right angles to the longitudinal axis thereof.

'I'he bent Aover ends of the brake-rods 42 are secured kto links 45 which are, inturn, secured to a lever 46. The lever 46 is fulcrumedat 48 on the end-plate 30 and the links 45 Yare connected to the lever 46 on opposite sides of the fulcrum 48. :The movement of the leverY 46 is limited by a guide 49. By moving the lever 4,6, Ya braking action is produced onfthe wheels 25, and when the force is removed from the lever 46 the springs 5B automatically` remove the brakeV bands 38 from `the wheels 25,.as Vapparent from 4the drawings.

Theavy pin 52 is secured to the end-plate 30 bya chainY 54.V I'I'he'pin 52 is Vadapted to be placed through Yapertures in the ends of Y the bumper members 20 to couple two mine cars togerther. 'I'he ends of the bumper members 20 are,

. of course, adapted to engage with each other so Y that car coupling is thereby made possible.

'I'he parts of the mine car can be secured together by any means, such as bolts or rivets, but it is a distinct feature of the invention to use a welded construction throughout. By theuse of such welded construction, the total weight of the car is reduced and an improved appearancefand greater strength results. ,Y

It will be appreciated that the inventionA is not limited to the specic form illustrated and described, but is actually defined in the appended claim. Y

I claim: Y Y

A car body for mine cars and the like comprising a planar central bottom-plate having its longitudinal edges bentupwardly therefrom to form sides, a longitudinally extending side angleplate positioned on leach side of said central bot-y tom-plate with the edges of its horizontal portion side angle-plates and Securely attached theretoY to provide a complete body, arplurality of axle housings secured to the under side of said central bottom-plate intermediate the ends thereof, bumper boxes secured to the under side of said central bottom-plate at each end thereof, and

aV strengthening member secured to the bottom 'Y side of said central bottom-plate and extending between said bumper boxes whereby an integral Y connected car body unit is provided.

Y ARTHUR :BRAMLEY- 

